Discovering Transit in Montana

Stevensville - Following the loud and clear public declaration last year of the need for county wide planning and zoning, the new Ravalli County Commissioners, James Rokosch, Kathleen Driscoll and Carlotta Grandstaff, have pushed the process into high gear.

The Ravalli County Planning Department, in association with the two consultant firms DTM Consulting and Geum Environmental Consulting Inc., have started with an analysis of the county’s existing conditions in order to model the land area that is suitable for development. I can only assume that the next step in the process would be to use the model as a base for public participation and professional evaluation, which would then modify the base analysis towards a final zoning plan. While all of this is a bit technical, the zoning team did put together a decent power point presentation explaining each layer of the land suitability model. The working land suitability model can be viewed by clicking its link, be aware that it does take some time to load. (Other maps and documents can be viewed on Ravalli County’s website)

This is the first step towards a comprehensive growth plan for Ravalli County. While the final plan will likely not look the same as the suitability model, this analysis does a good job of easily ruling out many areas as future locations for development. It reduces the amount of land needed to be evaluated for zoning to a more manageable amount. Now the public and experts alike can focus on the intermediate to best lands, particularly those around existing urban density and infrastructure.

Land use planning and transit must go together, for it is only common sense to direct residential and commercial development into areas already served by existing transportation infrastructure. Transit is also much more efficient when there is more density. If a majority of the future growth in the Bitterroot Valley is focused around the existing density of Hamilton, Stevensville and other Ravalli communities, then a future transit system in the valley will be far more efficient and affordable. The beauty of more density is, quite literally, the beauty of a landscape with less sprawl, and this is of great concern to Ravalli County residents. This is a continuing planning process, and I will post more on this issue as information and inspiration coincide.

- Benjamin

You may have read Hummer Jake’s comment on Missoulapolis that ‘bicyclists don’t count.’ According to Jake, bicyclists don’t pay, and therefore don’t matter.

Now read Daniel Nairn’s great response. Daniel crunched the numbers. Turns out, it’s actually the bikers subsidizing the drivers. Nice try, Mr. Hummer…

Despite a strong showing from the business community at last week’s Envision Missoula meeting, Missoulians were overwhelmingly in support of increasing density and transit within our community. This goes to show that when we zoom out and examine the bigger picture, most everyone agrees that we need less congestion and air pollution, achieved through more transit. It’s on the micro-level of specific projects where many people don’t agree.  Unfortunately, this list of projects is an integral part of the process.

Some background: creating a long range transportation plan is a federally mandated process that ultimately results in the dispersal of federal money for transportation projects. The LRTP includes a list of specific projects in order of priority with funding levels needed for each project in the plan. In the past, this has been a dream list of oversized roadways all around town. The reconstruction of Russell Street is a project that will cost tens of millions of dollars, and will likely be pretty high on the list this time around. But, as always, there is a shrinking pot of money for an ever-larger list of projects. This year, it would be most wise to include increased transit service at the top of the list of projects.

By including transit projects that can receive funding in the LRTP, Mountain Line can expand their service as funds become available, rather than being put on the back burner so our roads can get more and more bloated.  Mountain Line and transit advocates should focus on the following priorities as the list of projects is developed:

1. Increased mid-day service on all routes.  All routes should run ever 60 minutes at minimum all day long.  Popular routes should run at least every 30 minutes throughout the entire day.
2. Night-time bus service on popular routes.  Routes with demand for night service should run until at least 11:00 or midnight to accommodate night-shift workers as well as people shopping and socializing around town.
3. Increased peak-hour service on all routes.  15-minute service during commute hours will relieve full buses, and present riding the bus as a more attractive option to commuters.
4. Sunday service.  Service on Sunday will never be full of riders, but is an essential social service for people who cannot or choose not to drive themselves.
5. Service to new areas.  The Bitterroot, Clinton/Turah, Polson/Plains… these outlying communities have unmet transportation needs, too.

Certain community members may balk at these suggestions, but my response to Joe Real Estate who just ‘needs his SUV’: more people on public transportation means more room for you in your gas-guzzling abomination. Everybody wins.

I’ve traversed the length of Highway 93 South more times than I can count. When you are from Stevensville, it can’t be helped. I learned to drive on 93 and its smaller counterpart, Eastside Highway. My parents commute on it regularly. Everyone I know in the Bitterroot risks everything during their Bitterroot commute, and sometimes these commutes end in tragedy. Now with gas prices hovering around $3/gallon, the commute is now more expensive than many Ravalli County families can afford. Even with its high price, it is the only way to employment and income, so other things are sacrificed to pay for the increasing cost of the commute.

After all of this comes the issue of congestion, an issue not nearly as important as those mentioned above. Lets be honest, the congestion on Highway 93 South isn’t really that bad, but it certainly is worse than it used to be. Missoula’s channel 8 (KPAX) has been doing a series on traffic congestion in the Missoula area, and one of their stories centered on the Bitterroot Commute. I found it interesting that the only part of this issue they focused on was the congestion problem, which they termed “growing gridlock.” Now I know local news likes to exaggerate, but “gridlock” is ridiculous. According to the 2000 census, 3,200 people commuted regularly between Ravalli County and Missoula, and that number has surely grown. Even if we allow for growth, the number of commuters is still relatively small. Even so KPAX did find some Bitterroot commuters that agreed with their severely negetive assesment of 93 South.

‘I think they need another highway’ says Stevensville Resident, Darlene Burgess. ‘I think that they need to prepare now for another highway. I came from Washington, and these people don’t really know what traffic is. I’ve seen the signs. You come just past Florence and it’s traffic. And it’s only going to get worse.’

Darlene is right, to a point; it is only going to get worse from here. I do not agree that there needs to be a second 4-lane highway. Lets use a “big city” example here, but its not from Washington. Between Boulder and Denver, Colorado is US 36, a 4 lane highway that has served as the only link between these cities for many years. Needless to say the number of commuters between these cities is far more than the 3,200 recorded in Ravalli County’s 2000 census. So what has allowed US 36 to remain the only major highway between Boulder and Denver? Something must have added capacity without adding highway lanes. That something is called transit.

Missoula - Ravalli Bus System

I spent a bit of time fiddling around with a Montana Department of Transportation highway map in microsoft paint, and came up with a possible bus system that links Ravalli County towns together, as well as to Missoula. With only 4 routes, every town north of Hamilton is linked on both Highway 93 and Eastside Highway (Route H for Hamilton, S for Stevensville, F for Florence, and E for Eastside Highway; the X routes stands for Express, as there is the possibility for future express routes that would have limited stops, and are therefore faster).

The beauty of the Bitterroot Valley’s long North-South orientation along 93 is that the further north you go towards Missoula, the greater the frequency of service, and it is the north valley that has the most commuters. This geographical fact would allow a Missoula - Ravalli Bus system, I like to call it MR Bus, to provide frequent bus service in Florence and Lolo with fewer buses added to the entire system. In fact, this system could work with 10 buses; 2 buses per route, plus 2 spare buses for maintenance rotation and emergencies. Connection to a central station in Missoula would allow free transfer onto Mountain Line’s local system, and UM’s bus system.

The point is that for less than the cost of a new highway, we could add capacity to Highway 93 with 10 55 passenger regional coach buses. Riders would even have their own reading lights. More than adding capacity and reducing congestion, a transit system offers greater safety to riders, and puts money back in their wallets that would otherwise go to the pump. It seems that the Montana Department of Transportation agrees with me:

Officials with the Montana Department of Transportation say that there isn’t enough money to currently fund a new highway or to add on to the existing road. Instead, the MDT is recommending more vanpool, carpool, and even bus services for the corridor.

I dare say that vanpools aren’t really doing much to help add capacity, we need buses for that. Sorry MRTMA.

- Benjamin

The “realistic” approach to Missoula’s “transportation infrastructure” woes, as “envisioned” by one member of the less “progressive” sector of Missoula’s “business community:” (quotations are “fun” aren’t they?)

MBIA Members! I am forwarding a message from the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce regarding two transportation planning meetings this week on Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon. Of some 300 people attending prior meetings there was very little presence of the business community/MBIA/Realtors or other “working” people. The “brainstorming” that occurred at the earlier meetings resulted in an extremely heavy bias for Light Rail, Bus, Paths and Bike Trails. This meeting will be to choose between the top three alternatives suggested at the last workshops. Many business people feel this is a very misguided and “Pie in the Sky” approach to transportation/land use planning. WE NEED TO TURN OUT AS MANY BUSINESS PEOPLE AS WE CAN or this plan, which will be used to guide future transportation planning for our community, will be very slanted toward bike/ped/bus/light rail interests and will be slanted away from growth issues relating to both commercial and residential development. Make no mistake. OPG is spending a lot of money for this study and it surely will be used for future planning!

Please try to attend and be prepared to be critical if you see this planning effort being misdirected.

Thank You!

Jim Leiter
Community Affairs Director
MBIA

Very interesting. I wonder what they would consider as non “pie-in-the-sky” transportation solutions. Since they call bike/ped/bus/rail “pie-in-the-sky,” the only alternative would be road/highway oriented solutions. I really wish I could attend these meetings (as I am in Denver currently), and I hope some of you “pie-in-the-sky” folks do. Lets not forget that the national trends are moving away from car only/highway investment, a fact it seems Jim Leiter, the author of the MBIA email, seems to have no knowledge about. Jim Leiter’s concept of “realistic” transportation infrastructure would repeat the mistakes of Los Angeles, Denver and other sprawl-o-lific cities of the late 20th century. I should remind Jim that Los Angeles and Denver are currently spending billions to re-engineer their failed highway transportation systems towards more transit/bike/ped. If Jim wants to do the same with Missoula’s infrastructure, he sure wont be doing it with my tax dollars.

Given the additional expense related to car focused infrastructure, in both engineering costs and socio-economic costs, I am surprised that a businessman would think it was the only realistic option. Business people, being focused on the bottom line, should naturally conclude that transit, not additional highway infrastructure, is the least expensive option for both government and the traveling public. Less private money spent on gasoline = more private money spent at local businesses. Less public money spent on expensive highway infrastructure = more public money spent upon improving business districts, and recreation opportunities; investments that make the community a more desirable place to live and visit (the simple economic concept of opportunity cost).

Speaking of the bottom line, Missoula simply does not have the public or private funds to build a highway focused transportation system, particularly in a $3/gallon + environment. The only “pie-in-the-sky” reality I see is one where Missoula bankrupts itself on massive concrete thoroughfares, bypasses to nowhere, and clogged Reserve Street IIs that only push Missoula’s air quality into further non-compliance. Perhaps a medical analogy would help, one that I am sure a non-pedestrian Jim Leiter will understand (walking/exercise = pie-in-the-sky, remember). When a human’s arteries get clogged the best solution is not to widen the circulatory system, but to reduce congestion through a change of lifestyle. Transit and bike/ped, like quaker oatmeal and exercise, is the best solution to reduce Missoula’s high transportation cholesterol.

- Benjamin